HULL KR head coach Willie Peters has given a damning view on the six-match suspension handed to Castleford Tigers hooker Liam Horne following last weekend’s Super League action.
Horne was charged with a Grade E unnecessary contact with a player who is injured or may be injured and subsequently failed to appeal the charge at an Operational Rules Tribunal on Tuesday night.
Rovers’ Rhyse Martin, however, pleaded guilty to a Grade A charge of head contact in last Friday’s Super League fixture against Wakefield Trinity, but an additional Grade E charge of unnecessary contact, to which he pleaded not guilty, was not proven.
As such, Martin will be free to play in Rovers’ clash with Leeds Rhinos this weekend – Horne, however, will sit out Castleford’s next six games.
And Peters believes that something needs to be done: “I certainly think it needs to be looked at with the ruling.
“If you touch a player it goes to Grade E straightaway. It needs to be graded and looked at with so many different factors.
“You can’t say it’s a Grade E and look at six weeks for Liam Horne – that’s not a six-week suspension, it’s just now.
“We were fortunate that we got off with Rhyse and that Rhyse got a Grade A for the contact. I understand that contact but it doesn’t make sense to go to a Grade E immediately.
“Players aren’t deliberately going to pull up an injured together or show no empathy towards an injured player.
“It’s if they know and believe the player is milking it and staying down. What Wigan did, there’s nothing wrong with that, but why should Liam Horne get suspended for six weeks? It doesn’t make sense.
“The player wasn’t injured. I’m glad in our case, they saw what we saw. There was some contact and that needed to be looked at.
“Common sense needs to be applied in these moments, you can’t get a six-week suspension for that. I can understand Danny McGuire’s frustrations after the game and during the week. You lose one of your key players for that.”
The Rovers boss went further, detailing just how the charge had affected Martin in the build-up to the Tribunal.
“Rhyse was not in a good place at all. He had just come off four months injury which he couldn’t control.
“If he had done anything where I thought it was worthy of a six-week suspension then I can understand it, but he was down – there was no questioning that.
“It was a massive relief that he got off. They need to look at how it affects players. We talk about our product being number one and getting more viewers with the best players on the field.
“We aren’t here for foul play, that needs to be dealt with but the two from the weekend to be graded an E needs to be looked at.
“Liam Horne, who is around him now and looking after him? I know Cas will, but is anyone from the RFL helping these players because they want to play?
“We have to look at it.”